I Just Don't Understand Year 7 Levels.

[Looking for help]

Hic don't tell anyone, please

[Fran17]

Goodness me, I would have been very worried. Especially as my DS1 is now driving to school! Poor you, what a morning. Have another glass of wine I'd say. You deserve it!

[mystery]

Get the sprouts out Scarlett. Yes I'm sure he is doing fine. You hear a lot of secondary school teachers saying they get children who got 5 or 6 at KS2 who are in reality only a four when measured the secondary school way - so he must be doing great.

Project forward at satisfactory and good progress rates and see what you get - I'm sure you'll be pleased.

Detentions - ah yes, I enjoyed giving them out, particularly to new boys in their first week at secondary. Not for anything as bad as pushing another child over though!!

[Spatel2]

My sister is a secondary school teacher and she says the levels at primary and secondary are different, the secondary levels are bit tougher.

Hope that eases your concerns about drop in levels.

[andyb]

Just to emphasise how "random" levels can be - at parents evening in mid-November we were told DS1 was 7b in Maths, about average. He came home yesterday and says he is now 8a - not because he put in extra effort during those last 3 weeks of term and his overall performance improved, but because he achieved a near perfect score in an end of term test. I can't wait to hear what level he is next week .

[scarlett]

Thanks Spatel and Andy. I've decided to ignore these levels and just carry on nosying through DS books to check his little test results and more importantly any positive/negative comments re effort ! He told me that due to 1 history assessment he is now a level 6 ..but has also cottoned on to this level lark too and is trying to convince me that he is level 7 in everything else.

He had his detention yest. and was with boys who had swore at teachers etc so was a bit mortified plus he only had time for a sandwich and was starving when he got home. I made him wait for dinner.

[mystery]

Dinner? He got dinner?? No-one gets that in my house unless they have done 3 hours piano practice, and none of them do.

[scarlett]

Yes, mind you I made him eat it whilst standing in the garden.Doing sums.

[push-pull-mum]

Right - I am dragging this thread out of mothballs and back on topic to have a bewildered rant about levels in advance of next term's Year 7 parents' evening.

DD is at a Comprehensive which is generally considered to be "on the up" with shiny new Head and shiny new Academy status. She was at the tippy top of level 5 across the board well in advance of Key Stage 2 SATS and has just come home with another report telling me what an angel she is.
But what do the levels and the targets mean ????
An example (which made me smile)

P.E. Minimum Target Level - 7.3 - Working At - 3.7 - Effort (1-4) - 4 - "Push-Pull-Daughter continues to work extremely well in lessons and is a pleasure to teach"

One wonders just how dreadful all the other children must be!!

But what is the Minimum Target and when are they supposed to reach it ? DD's lowest level is the 3.7 and the higher ones (Maths and Science) are 6.3 (Music is 7.3 but she's a bit of a "Special Case" there)
Her levels in Geography and R.E. have gone down since last term, however, in spite of still receiving level 4 for effort and only positive comments.

I miss the good old days of "B-(-) - Could do better" myself.

[scarlett]

How bizarre PP Mum...I was re reading this thread after receiving DS report .His doesn't have the effort levels, but his science has gone down and his English and History stayed the same...all main subjects between 5c and 5a...I was a bit worried, but after reading past posts on here dating back to 2007 ( and still featuring main characters from 2012 ) I'm not too worried as the general consensus seemed to be they should be taken with a pinch of salt. I'd rather have a parent consultation and just hear that my son was working hard and achieving then reading about a bunch of levels really. It does seem quite different to primary.